5 of The Top New Hiring Trends to Expect in 2018

Whether you’re searching for new talent or you’re the one hoping to be the new talent, the age-old, resume-cover-letter-interview-waiting-game hiring process can feel daunting, ineffective, and flat out long. However, we’re more than happy to say that new trends in hiring are making the talent acquisition process way easier and more efficient for both job seekers and employers. While processes are being streamlined by things like data and artificial intelligence, employers are simultaneously prioritizing personal connection and culture fit. Read below to find out some of the top hiring trends you’re bound to see in 2018.

1 | Diversity

Sure it’s a buzzword, but maybe that’s for good reason. In the past, diversity was a box that employers had to check off or a quota to fill. These days, companies rate it  as one of the most important things when hiring, and not just to keep an appropriate ratio. Employers are finding  that diversity not only leads to diversity in ideas, problem-solving, and creativity, but it also increases office morale, marketing and customer service (being able to relate to a wide range of customers), and an improved ability to attract top talent. All of these are great reasons to want to diversify the workplace, the reason that was the most important to employers was the fact that it boosted workplace morale and performance. Think about it: if the only people who are getting rewarded are those who are just like the people already in leadership, how motivated would you be if you knew your work wouldn’t get recognized anyway? On the other hand, if you know you’ll be rewarded based on the quality of your work and your performance, no matter your background, you’ll be way more motivated to work hard and seek success for the good of the company.

2 | New interviewing tools

Today, employers are beginning to see the value in really understanding their prospective employees before hiring them. Employers are learning that what you read on paper, might not exactly be what you get and an employee can actually be a lot more than the number of years of work experience they have.

More and more employers are beginning to test candidates on their “soft” or interpersonal skills. It’s becoming more important to see how an employee will work together with already established teams as well as how they will communicate with customers and how they will solve new problems. Besides this, employers are beginning to care less about the number of years of experience on a person’s resume and more about whether they can simply do the job. Employers are giving interviewees sample work or even paying them to work at the company for a short trial period to see how the potential employee will perform and how they work with the rest of their team. And although traditional interviews are still going to be around for a while, many employers are opting for less formal interviews, video interviews, or even virtual reality  interviews!

3 | Data (aka science)

While there are a lot of opinions out there on how to hire the right candidate, the numbers don’t lie. There are numerous reasons for why employers would want to use data in their candidate search, but when asked  their top reasons for using data when hiring, they said the most important was to retain talent.

Many new metrics like turnover rates, job performance, employee engagement, and cultural fit are now being used to determine the quality of hire. According to Ideal.com, “Quality of hire can be measured using several metrics including:

• Retention
• Time to fill
• Hiring satisfaction
• Time-to-productivity
• Job performance
• Employee engagement
• Cultural fit”

And, if you want a simple formula  that can help calculate the quality of a new hire, try this one:

Quality of Hire (%) = (Job Performance + Ramp-up Time + Engagement + Cultural Fit)/N

Data could also help employers to understand where employee training may be falling short, if at all, or if the quality of candidates being brought in be recruiters is up to par. Overall, data is being used not only to hire and bring in new talent but to develop existing employees and keep them growing in an organization for years to come.

4 | Artificial Intelligence

Because of the fact that many employers get an extremely large amount of candidates applying for posted jobs, the need for a way to sift and sort through talent has become more and more necessary. While robots won’t be the ones holding interviews or making hiring decisions (yet), artificial intelligence can and will help employers with things like answering candidate’s questions, screening candidates, and sourcing new candidates. Artificial intelligence can also help to reduce the possibility of bias  when assessing new hires.

So, yes, many employers are coming to rely on artificial intelligence to filter through numerous applications and handle the initial interactions with job seekers; however, some say  that millennial job seekers will be turned off by companies who show little personal interaction during the hiring process and may accept an offer from a company who showed more personal involvement during the interview process.

Not to pat our own back or anything, but here at Scouted, we believe in taking the best from both worlds and serving up a platform for candidates where they can be matched with employers based on hundreds of data points as well as given the opportunity to be known apart from their resume. We do this by giving candidates the chance to submit pre-recorded video interviews that companies can view in order to get a feel for who a candidate really is, apart from their years of work experience. As a result, candidates see a 70% interview rate and a whopping 95% job satisfaction rate!

[sc name=“Newsletter”]

5 | Employer Branding

These days, it’s all about a positive candidate experience  and the best way to provide that for job seekers is a streamlined and clear interview and hiring process. Besides this, having a strong and positive employer brand can even help companies make up for a lack of available budget for higher salaries. According to this article  from CNBC, millennials would gladly take a starting salary cut if it meant upward mobility in a company. A great employer brand is also a great way to show the human side of your company, which is also especially important when it comes to hiring millennials. Besides this, companies can and will often build up a reputation among its employees. If an employer has a bad reputation among its employees, word is bound to spread especially with third-party websites now offering employee-side company reviews.

Have you personally experienced any of the new hiring trends we mentioned above? Did it lead to a more positive hiring experience or you find the new trends to feel cold and impersonal? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and share!